Product description

Manufacturer's Description

Celestron SkyScout GPS Star Locater

Imagine – All the celestial knowledge of the universe in the palm of your hand!

As one of America’s most recognised astronomy, binocular and microscope brands, Celestron has become synonymous over the last 60 years for award winning innovations and market firsts. The SkyScout star locater lives up to these long standing credentials and represents a breakthrough educational technology in the world of amateur astronomy. With an inbuilt celestial database of some 50,000 objects and many more learning features, the SkyScout from Celestron creates your very own personal planetarium and brings meaning to the sky at night!

The device makes a great extra when attached to the popular Celestron SkyScout 90 Refractor Telescope

The Celestron Field Guide....

The SkyScout comes with pre-installed software which offers an all inspiring “field guide” to the night’s sky. The software contains a great and easy to navigate menu with options designed to educate, entertain or simply enlighten a user on both a scientific and historical level. The main feature of the field guide is its fully comprehensive celestial database containing information on over 50,000 stars, 1,500 double and variable stars, all 88 constellations and 100 deep space objects including Galaxies, Nebulae, Star Clusters and much, much more. The software also contains a glossary of astronomy terms and information on famous astronomers, both past and present. Despite the large size of the database, individual items are easy to find as you can search for them using several different internationally recognised naming conventions such as SAO. The software can be updated via USB or SD card from the Celestron online database, meaning you will never miss out on a new discovery. The field guide software is like having the power of a search engine in your pocket, the only difference being - this search engine fits in the palm of your hand!

An Optimal Design.....

The Celestron SkyScout has been expertly designed to incorporate various features that ensure it is reliable but also simple to operate. A compact and lightweight body make the device easy for users to hold upright for long periods of time, a common practice when panning through the night’s sky. The SkyScout’s body is made from thick ABS rubber with large buttons making it feel ergonomic to hold and easy to operate in the dark. An inbuilt viewfinder allows a user to visually locate objects or simply browse through the night sky. A large orange backlit LCD display creates the perfect interface giving bright and clear access to the field guide software. The display works in combination with a 3.5mm headphone input which allows users to listen to an audio narration, or alternatively a written text description can be read via the display. Finally, the SkyScout can be attached via a screw mount to the Celestron SkyScout 90 Refractor telescope, acting as a professional aid to your astronomy endeavours.

Either use the viewfinder to guide the device or let the device guide you

Functions that Push to Explore......

Brimming with functionality, the Celestron SkyScout provides a wide variety of different users with an educational or perhaps just entertaining extraterrestrial experience. Stunningly simple to setup and use, just slot in 2 x AA batteries and you are off. An inbuilt GPS location unit automatically pin points exactly where you are on the Earth’s surface and in doing so, accurately deciphers where celestial formations and objects are, relative to your position. The device can be used in three different ways. Firstly using the view finder, you can simply point it at any object or formation in the night sky, press the “locate” button and let the field guide software identify and educate. Secondly, you can select a specific formation or object from the database and allow the view finder to guide you to it. Finally, you can opt for “highlights of the night sky” turning the device into your very own personal tour guide, all from the comfort of your seat!

A Gadget Most Applicable For......

Being so user friendly, the Celestron SkyScout makes what was once a highly scientific and complex pursuit into an entertaining and understandable activity accessible to all. The device is ideally suited to amateur astronomers of all ages. It creates a great and fun way for children to learn about the night’s sky or alternatively the field guide could also enlighten older users who seek to further their celestial knowledge. The easy to use interface and zero setup requirements mean that users with little or no technical understanding can gain instant enjoyment from the device, so why not get the whole family involved! So.....if you are looking for a friendly introduction to astronomy, want to enjoy the night sky without the bulky equipment or simply love gadgets, the Celestron SkyScout is the perfect choice for you!

Top customer reviews

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Purchased at excellent price via Amazon from Digital Depot. Arrived quickly, just in time for a period of excellent viewing with clear skies. It got a perfect GPS fix in minutes in the garden and it was spot on with objects such as Polaris and the few bright stars that I knew. With stars unknown to me, it immediately recognised them, displayed their name and made an audio description available for many. It guided me straight to Saturn and the audio description was very informative. In just a couple of days use I am more knowledgeable about the constellations, can recognise far more by eye and have thoroughly enjoyed using the SkyScout. I have now ordered the companion 90mm refractor telescope and look forward to using the SkyScout as a 'manual go-to' system. I have the two SkyTour cards on order and look forward to learning more with these.

The SkyScout is fantastic value for money and something I can highly recommend to budding astronomers.

I'm sure most of the good points have already been mentioned in the other reviews, for me it is a great escape for an hour or so in the back garden (when the stars are out); no longer do I have to wonder what things are, I can just point and click and get an instant audio tour of what I see. Not all objects have an audio description, but they all have text which is easy to read on the red backlit display.

Brightness and volume can be adjusted (especially useful if you get the optional speaker unit as the default volume is actually quite loud if you're standing outside in the dark by yourself). On the subject of the optional speaker unit, exactly the same unit (unbranded) can be had at a fraction of the price of the official Celestron one from elsewhere, but which ever way you buy it it's an excellent addition and well worth the money. Celestron Sky Scout Rechargeable Speaker

Some niggles...

I found it difficult to keep focus on the stars while looking through the viewfinder; I also have difficulty when looking through binoculars (I tend to get double vision), but perhaps I'm just not doing it right. If one looks only through the scope the eye tends to automatically focus on the red alignment rings and directional arrows which form the HUD for locating stars, any star becomes totally out of focus and all one sees is black. Perhaps this unit could have done with a small amount of magnification and/or a focusing mechanism, like a monocular, to make it easier to look through. The only way to do it, I have found, is to keep both eyes open and focus on the star, then slowly move the SkyScout in front of one eye while trying not to refocus. Oh and if you normally wear glasses, even only occasionally, for long distance then you'll definitely need them! The unit is normally held about six inches from the eye so glasses won't get in the way.

The SD card slot cover is tricky to push into place, even when there is no card inserted. Once a card is inserted it's best to just leave the cover out as it's likely to push against the card and make it pop out of it's socket. An unfortunate design flaw that means the unit is no longer water resistant should it start to rain (presumably star gazing wouldn't be up to much if it was raining anyway).

The unit is very sensitive to metallic objects, it even complains if I hold it within a few inches of the little speaker unit (which hangs conveniently around the neck). Moving the unit away again makes the warning go away, but when reading the display it's hard not to bring the unit close to the speaker.

There is no facility to skip the location and time setup. This is a bit annoying if all I want to do is listen to some of the audio tour or read some of the information without standing outside at night. Any time the unit is turned on it goes straight into the automatic GPS setup mode, it can be cancelled but the information must then be input manually before the main menu can be accessed.

The unit could have benefited from having a single bright red LED on the front for use as a torch when finding your way in the dark, reading notes, etc.

The two AA batteries slot into metallic sleeves, presumably to shield the unit's magnetic sensors from them, but these make them a very tight squeeze in the battery compartment. On the subject of batteries, I am successfully using two rechargeable Ni-MH AA batteries which are lasting quite a while. There is a battery level indicator in the display which has been on half-full since I started, I don't know what state the batteries were in but they probably were not full.

Niggles over! Even with these niggles it's still five stars (no pun intended) from me as it's such a great little gadget.

The unit comes with a long wrist strap and a very handy case, although it's a bit of a squeeze for the optional speaker unit in the accessories compartment; there's ample room for the small number of cables (two of which are for the speaker unit), add-on SD cards, etc.

I purchased the All About the Stars add-on SD card, there appears to be a lot on it so I'll be trying that out next now that I've got the hang of using the unit.

After only two nights of standing in the back garden I'm now confident that I could identify The Summer Triangle (Vega, Altair, Deneb), Polaris, and Jupiter just by sight, none of which I knew before. I like to take my time when learning new things, and this unit allows me to do just that; the audio tour is a real boon as it helps me remember things more easily. Next purchase - a good pair of binoculars!

PS... I can highly recommend a companion to this product - Magenta Bat 4 Bat Detector, Listener, Locator - which has a (single white LED) built-in torch, very handy and won't ruin your night vision. Cover the LED with some thin red film if you like. While you're out in the garden might as well make a night of it and detect some bats too!

It is ironic having to rate a star finder in stars when said star finder cannot find a star. The GPS would not lock even though I was outside on the top of a hill. As far as I can tell, the ephemeris has expired and there is no way to update it. I had the option of entering my location and time manually, which I did. When I tried it on known "stars" i.e. the Moon and Venus, it could not find them because the compass was out by 10 degrees. There was no apparent way to adjust the compass. Even if it did work, there is no way to enter dates after the end of this year. I.E. after the end of this year, this item will not do anything useful. I hate to say this, but this is definitely an item to avoid and is not the kind of thing that I expect from a reputable company.

I have had a computerised telescope for many years, but it is heavy and cunbersome to set up and use. It has a four inch wide objective lens which really only magnifies the stars. You need an eight inch diameter lens and above to get the best results, and this makes the whole thing even heavier. It is a lot to work with if you only want to identify the stars and planets. Enter the Skyscout GPS Star Locator. What a marvelous invention this is. It is the answer to the introduction to astronomy and so easy to use. It will do everything that is required, and the audio discription is very clear and understanding. I cannot praise this very clever device too much. It does drain the batteries very quickly, so I suggest using Duracell Ultra batteries. You cannot use rechargeable batteries as they are very slightly thicker and will not fit into the internal battery protection sleeves. I thoroughly recommend this product to the aspiring astrologer being either a youngster or an old codger like me.

I've had 2 of these sky scouts both sent back for refund, first one stopped picking up gps after 5 month's and was showing software fault, I downloaded new firmware still did not pick up gps. Returned, replacement sent, did not pick up gps from the start. Sent back for refund. Contacted celestron this product discontinued 2 years ago. They can only be updated on a 32 bit computer, not compatible with 64 bit. Really good when they work.

I bought it Dec 2014 and used it half a dozen times but GPS locator stopped working after first time and had to set location manually after that. Come 2016 I tried to do the same and found that it does not accept dates after 2015!! I asked Celestron for a fix but they basically said they can't be bothered. Its scandalous, and the product is a waste of money, but they are still for sale!!!